RBZ has no gold reserves – Chinamasa

Zimbabwe’s central bank holds no gold reserves but is preparing to build stocks for both the yellow metal and diamonds in the near future, finance minister Patrick Chinamasa told parliament on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe holds vast diamond reserves while gold production is recovering following a decline in the last decade.

Chinamasa, who was responding to questions regarding the state of affairs in which former governor, Gideon Gono left the bank, said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe was currently holding gold coins only.

Gono left the RBZ at the end of November last year.

“The bank does not hold any gold reserves except for gold coins which were valued at $501 390 as at the end of January 2014,” Chinamasa told the house.

“I have however asked the Reserve Bank to prepare for the day we can start to build our own gold and diamond reserves. The legal responsibility to keep such reserves would fall squarely on the RBZ,” he added.

Chinamasa said the central bank had disposed of 284 632 grammes of gold which were held by Standard Chartered Bank in London at the beginning of 2013.

The finance mister said external auditors carried out yearly audits at the RBZ, with the 2013 audit expected at the end of March.

“The 2012 audit was conducted by Ernst and Young and it gave the bank a clean bill of health,” he said.

On finalisation of the RBZ retrenchment programme, Chinamasa said the apex bank was still battling to raise funding to pay over 1 500 of its ex-staffers.

“Out of a total of 2,044 retrenchees, 421 have now been fully paid. The bank is currently engaged in efforts to raise funds to pay off the (former workers),” the minister said, without saying how much was required for the exercise.

The employees, retrenched early last year, have fought running battles with the central bank through the Labour Court to have their dues settled.

But the central bank has insisted it does not have funds to settle the arrears.

COMMENTS

This guy is smoking his own pipe. The bank is bare because everything touched by despicable rats such as himself and Gono ends up bare. He’s going to start building reserves. With what? His budget is already busted all the way into any imaginable future. What isn’t nailed down will be stolen. The gold coins must have a curse on them. The only newsworthy part of this story is that they haven’t been stolen too. Maybe they have. Has anybody actually seen these coins?

We have enough diamonds’ Bob said. There is lots off money from diamond proceeds going into government’ Mpofu said. Chin you must be lying really, or are you dying Bob is a list. Whatch it now , he is awake.

RBZ should be liquidated its debts exceed its assets. Bank must account for it debts – down to the last cent – from 1997 to yesterday. Its practices have eroded all trust in it as a “lender of last resort ” the local banking system and the country.

[…] In the last 10 years, Zimbabwe’s economy and hyperinflation became so bad, that many turned to an old tradition just to survive: gold panning. Much of the panning done was illegal as well. However, when people are literally starving, they’ll do anything to survive. It is believed that the number of those who panned for gold last year, was between 100,000 and 300,000 souls. […]